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"I met Kara literally on the streets of New York, in 1999, in front of the Brooklyn Diner," Paula tells us.

The two struck up a friendship and Abdul convinced the then-struggling songwriter to quit her job at Billboard magazine, she tells us, and convinced her to move to Los Angeles to pursue her dreams.

"I was an instant fan of hers," says Paula. "I moved her out to L.A. to live with me. I introduced her to music publishers. Kara and I wrote Spinning Around for Kylie Minogue when we were living together."

Paula tells us she brought up Kara D to the Idol producers before. The songwriter is friends with A.I. head honcho Simon Fuller and she's written songs for many Idol finalists before.

"I've been talking about her for years," Abdul tells us. "I hope the audience gets excited and accepts it. Sometimes its been hard when we've had four judges in the past. They always wanted four judges since the beginning. It'll be good to have two girls, and two guys. Kara's like a sister to me."

I'm not too concerned about the lack of "star power" she brings, given that no one knew Randy Jackson and Simon Cowell when the show first started, either. If Kara can bring even a little bit of objectivity to the process, I'm all for it. I just hope this doesn't lead to another season of the Paula Abdul reality show, which follows her breakdown upon thinking she's being replaced.